Benjamin Edwards Inc. Takes $320,000 Position in ePlus inc. $PLUS

Key Points

• Benjamin Edwards Inc. acquired 5,249 shares of ePlus inc. (NASDAQ:PLUS) for approximately $320,000 in the first quarter, indicating growing interest from institutional investors.
• ePlus recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.25 per share, with a payout expected on September 17th, reflecting an annualized dividend yield of 1.4%.
• Analysts have downgraded ePlus from a "buy" to a "hold" rating, with the company reporting a Q1 EPS of $0.95, surpassing estimates but falling short on revenue expectations.

Benjamin Edwards Inc. purchased a new position in shares of ePlus inc. (NASDAQ:PLUS - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 5,249 shares of the software maker's stock, valued at approximately $320,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Zions Bancorporation National Association UT acquired a new stake in shares of ePlus during the 1st quarter worth about $1,304,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in ePlus by 0.5% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,448,514 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $149,433,000 after purchasing an additional 11,051 shares during the last quarter. Phocas Financial Corp. raised its holdings in ePlus by 61.7% during the first quarter. Phocas Financial Corp. now owns 68,642 shares of the software maker's stock worth $4,189,000 after purchasing an additional 26,203 shares in the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of ePlus by 35.5% in the 1st quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 5,029 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $307,000 after buying an additional 1,318 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of ePlus in the 1st quarter valued at $309,000. 93.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

ePlus Stock Up 0.2%

PLUS stock traded up $0.18 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $72.23. The company had a trading volume of 102,896 shares, compared to its average volume of 206,430. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $69.77 and a 200-day moving average price of $66.77. The firm has a market cap of $1.92 billion, a PE ratio of 16.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.88 and a beta of 1.14. ePlus inc. has a 1-year low of $53.83 and a 1-year high of $106.98.

ePlus (NASDAQ:PLUS - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 22nd. The software maker reported $0.95 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.87 by $0.08. ePlus had a return on equity of 11.03% and a net margin of 5.47%.The company had revenue of $498.11 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $523.85 million. Sell-side analysts anticipate that ePlus inc. will post 3.78 earnings per share for the current year.

ePlus Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 17th. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 26th will be given a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, August 26th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.4%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Wall Street Zen cut shares of ePlus from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, June 27th.

ePlus Company Profile

ePlus inc., together with its subsidiaries, provides information technology (IT) solutions that enable organizations to optimize their IT environment and supply chain processes in the United States and internationally. It operates through two segments, Technology and Financing. The Technology segment offers hardware, perpetual and subscription software, maintenance, software assurance, and internally provided and outsourced services; managed services or infrastructure and cloud; and enhanced maintenance support, service desk, storage-as-a-service, cloud hosted and managed, and managed security services; and professional, staff augmentation, cloud consulting, consulting, and security services.